Broward Attorney sidesteps charges, suspension
Hilliard Moldof''What I did was wrong, but I never had an intent, ever, ever to affect a prosecution,'' said Moldof
Rundle's office has said Moldof wasn't charged because his offense was nonviolent, and he had a clean criminal history. Prosecutors told Bar officials they gave Moldof ``a break.''
http://www.miamiherald.com/467/story/187588.html
From Miami's justice Building
Blog.
http://www.justicebuilding.blogspot.com/
Moldof Morass.
Here is the Herald article
reporting on the conclusion of the investigation of Broward lawyer Hilliard Moldof who was accused in 2003 of tampering with a witness in a murder prosecution by paying the witness $100.00 . The article reports that the Dade SAO, who was appointed to investigate the case reached a “settlement” with Mr. Moldof wherein Moldof agreed to a statement of facts in which he acknowledged that his actions could be the basis for charging him with a felony. The case was then referred to the Bar and the Dade SAO took no further action, deeming their settlement a type of deferred prosecution.
Rundle's office has said Moldof wasn't charged because his offense was nonviolent, and he had a clean criminal history. Prosecutors told Bar officials they gave Moldof ``a break.''
The hitch is that the Dade SAO apparently believed Moldof would get a six month suspension, and instead the Bar has ordered an admonishment. The Dade SAO is not happy.
The Dade SAO has come under their fair share of criticism on these pages but not today.
Like it or not, what the Dade SAO did was exercise prosecutorial discretion. They decided not to proceed with a prosecution that they technically could have proceeded with because they believed that it was the right thing to do. It did not work out as they planned in this circumstance, but that should not dissuade them from proceeding in this manner in the future. We need more of this type of thinking, and less of the type of concrete thought process that we see too often in our courts these days.
Maybe Moldof should be shunned. Every time he walks into a courtroom everyone should stand up and turn their backs to him.
Why?
its guys like him that give the defense bar a bad name. I got scum on this low-life that wull spin your head....and...oh, what a big spender? This guy's ego is so inflated, that he risks everything so he can appear to be the 'hero'who, only with the help of a little graft and corruption, walks a homicide defendant....how impressive!!
lets get this straight..bottom -feeding scum sucker gets nailed for attempted bribe, lies about it and gets a brake cause why? 80%of daily broward arrests are first offense, non-violent offenders and they dont get any free bites!! this is sickening! He should be disbarred at very least. The pathetic bar is going to pay for this type of precedent.Word on the street says Moldoff once submitted a $9,000.00 bill for services, 2 days after being retained on a sex batt after being fired for failing to return phone calls. He's a embarrassment to the entire defense bar.
He sure used to get a lot of work from Horowuss.
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 S. Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
305-666-4366
amendmentone@comcast.net
July 31, 2007
Jack Harkness, Executive Director
Ken Marvin, Director of Lawyer Regulation
The Florida Bar
651 East Jefferson Street
Tallahassee, Florida Via Fax to 850-561-5600
Re: Complaint against Hilliard Moldof, Bar Case No. 2006-51,254
Dear Mr. Harkness and Mr. Marvin:
I have been retained by Mr. Nick Sortal whom I now represent, along his parents, in the above matter. As you may or may not know, Mr. Moldof was found guilty by The Bar of misconduct in payment of money to a witness in a murder case, and he received, remarkably, an “admonishment,” which is an even lower form of punishment that the “public reprimand” erroneously reported in today’s Miami Herald. The State Attorney is upset about this Bar action, and so are my clients, whose brother/son was killed.
The State Attorney feels like it was snookered by The Bar, and she was, it seems. The understanding, according to The Herald, is that this guy was going to get at least a six-month suspension.
We hereby inform you, then, of the following:
We seek a full review of this disciplinary decision, which we understand the Florida Supreme Court did not do because it was not involved in this decision in any fashion.
Further, under the Florida Public Records Law, we request all documents pertaining to this disciplinary decision. If The Bar thinks some of these documents are privileged, then it needs to inform us which ones it believes are.
Regards, Jack Thompson
Oh, goodie. More scandals. Note the Kuehne krap:
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 S. Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
305-666-4366
amendmentone@comcast.net
July 25, 2007
Frank Angones
Bar President
Miami, Florida Via Fax to 305-371-3948 and e-mail to fra@amglaw.net
Re: The Florida Bar
Dear Frank:
The Miami ABC-TV affiliate, WPLG, called me today and asked me to go on camera to talk about the scandal, of The Bar’s making, whereby it let off the hook Ft. Lauderdale attorney Hilliard Moldof for alleged witness tampering. WPLG has already done an “ambush” of Moldof, in which he sprinted away from the camera. Always a smart move.
I now represent the murder victim’s family in this matter, who contacted me, not I them. I have posted at the JAAB blog my letter to The Bar requesting a review of this scandalous matter and the public records generated thereby under Florida law. It is all the more important that this be done in light of the fact that you and The Bar Governors have actively covered up the fact that one of your Governors, Ben Kuehne, received a “target letter” from the Dept. of Justice arising out of their concerns that Kuehne has allegedly laundering money for the Medellin cocaine cartel. The Bar is protecting a possible Moldof within the bowels of its organization.
Kuehne, with your knowledge, is sitting still on the Board and even worse serving as a “designated reviewer” on grievance committees! What’s next? Suspected pedophiles as owners of day care centers? Oh, wait, the Fusters already did that in Country Walk, remember? What we need are alleged thieves sitting on grievance committees, right?
The Bar is on the cusp of a public relations disaster, and I intend to make it worse. Bar President Miles McGrane did a poll of our members years ago and an astonishing number of us told The Bar that the “disciplinary” system protects the elite lawyers and targets the weak. You have done that to me, which is why your Bar is a defendant in a federal civil rights action right now, with me as the plaintiff.
How about you have the courage to go on Michael Putney’s program, since it is WPLG who blew the lid on the Kuehne scandal and since it is pursuing the Moldof scandal, and you can defend how great The Bar is in doing something about unethical lawyers. I will take the other side, having been on Michael’s excellent show before and having been profiled, warts and all, on ABC’s Nightline recently. ABC and its affiliates know my shortcomings. What they need to know are the outrageous shortcomings of our Bar, which is quickly becoming the laughingstock of the nation.
Regards, Jack Thompson
Sorry, the date on the immediately above letter should be Aug 1. Typo. Jack
go get 'em Jack
Dear poster, immediately above:
Thanks for the support. There is an excellent scholarly look by a UConn Law Professor re the "scandalous" history of state bars' discipline. The preface is a killer. Read it at:
http://www.wcl.american.edu/journal/lawrev/48/pdf/levin.pdf?rd=1
question
isn't this a reflection on our great fl. gov doesn't he have the power to step in and demand justice or is this just more of wonderful fl politics
another question
i hear chuck morton helped this jerk out of trouble.
what did he have on u chuck.
i wonder if chucks wife has ever looked at his buisness cell phone or seen the call from and to the court house? she would see some of ur girls on there wouldn't she chucky. remember chuck i know the truth, u can teach all the sunday school classes u want, it will not change what u are.
It's good to see that normal people, as well as lawyers, are figuring out that The Bar's disciplinary system is a means by which The Bar protects its "untouchables" and targets those wo are not connected with these self-important elitists who run The Bar. Here is a letter in today's Miami Herald:
Letter in today's Miami Herald opinion column about the Fla. Bar doing NOTHING to disbar an errant attorney: Here's entire text:
SLAP ON WRIST
Re the July 31 story Defense attorney sidesteps charges, suspension: The FLorida Bar and the Broward County prosecutors are an embarrassment to our judicial process. The FLorida Bar ruled that attorney Hilliard Moldolf's sending $100 to a prisoner who was to testify against his client was merely "minor misconduct." This is another example of the FLorida Bar's long-standing policy of protecting attorneys and condoning their unethical activities. If this were just another citizen, Moldof would have been arrested and prosecuted. Instead, the FLorida Bar duped the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office into thinking that it would take remedial action against Moldof. The legal and judicial systems in Florida continue to be an embarrassment. --CLIFFORD KOLBER, Miami
PS: From Jack Thompson: Miles McGrane did a poll of our Bar's members a few years ago and a stunning number of us said that the disciplinary system turns on who you know, not what you did. Hank Coxe was tasked, as the Chairman of the disciplinary overhaul committee to solve this problem. He totally ignored it, and then he became Bar President. As Borat would say "Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!"
Jack Thompson
Jack Thompson writes:
"The Bar is on the cusp of a public relations disaster..... which is why your Bar is a defendant in a federal civil rights action right now, with me as the plaintiff."
Just as a courtesy Jack, in the interests of full disclosure, you will share with the readers of this blog, the following matters which might arguably create a conflict of interest- as to the integrity of your posts.
Make it clear that it is not so much you are suing the Bar as they are attempting to discipline you for misconduct and you have without success thus far attempted to enjoin that prosecution in circuit courts in Orlando, the Supreme Court in Tallahassee, and the United States District Court in Fort Lauderdale.
Would it not be fair to say that your earlier lawsuits against the Bar were dismissed this year both in the Supreme Court and by the United States District Court, one jurist concluding you were responsible for making "baseless and wild unsubstantiated accusations?"
Disclose and make it clear also that The Florida Bar now has pending against you in the Supreme Court of this state a number of complaints and cases, one a forty page complaint for unethical conduct in violation of the Rules, and those charges not only include disparaging litigants and judges abusively and recklessly, but engaging in conduct designed to disrupt a tribunal; and lying to the courts, and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice; for engaging in conduct which constitutes fraud, deceit, dishonesty andmisrepresentation, for practicing law in another jurisdiction in violation of that jurisdiction's rules...........uh....and that is just part of count one; and said case is set for trial next month, September 4.
Forget that they have asked you as a condition of a proposed settlement you personally accept at least a 91 day suspension, a psychological examination, evaluation, and assessment, and probation, that was you who wrote a letter to the Supreme Court last week accusing them of 'extortion' and signing it, 'Insanely yours' ? That was you, right?
Because I am suing you for defamation, and attempting to enforce a restraining order, I am privileged to receive your correspondence.
I know the issue is not you here, and it is more the disposition of the case against Mr. Moldof, but it would appear the Florida Bar is certainly attempting to discharge its duties as to your alleged misconduct.
The question I have is that if you are so zealous in having the Bar further prosecute and investigate the claims against Mr. Moldof why are you so afraid of letting the same people hear and prosecute their own claims against you?
Right on Norm.....
What is most intersting about the Bar testimony of Chuck Morton and Howard Scheinberg is that, according to media sources, the import of their testimony was evidently to support Moldoff's baseless position that he never intended the money order as a bribe. In what appears to be a case of first impression, Morton and Scheinberg persuaded the disiplinary comittee as to the 'intent' of a third party, Moldoff. Can someone help me out and tell me how that works? Any Moldoff supporters or others who believe that this entire farce represents a fair and just administration of justice.....now is your chance!!
It's all good - it's a great time to be a lawyer or a judge. You can still send people threatening, anonymous emails (Diaz), you can fudge applications for our most trusted positions (O'Connor), you can give money to witnesses in big time criminal cases (Moldof), you can bum money and take gifts from the people who appear before you (Zack and Seidlin), heck, you can even humiliate the people before you or discount their claims based on their social class (Greene, Feiner, Aleman and Schapiro). Did I forget anyone?
Just don't steal a $9 remote control or get caught smoking dope outside of your living room. That's real bad!
It is always fascinating to me when lawyers like Norm Kent post jeremiads like this and yet who have a long-standing affiliation with the ACLU, whose central premise is that the government historically squealches freedom of speech. Norm Kent can't seem to process the fact that maybe The Bar's actions against me stem from that dangerous proclivity to use the levers of power to stifle expression.
Why, Norm Kent himself actually filed a motion with Judge Streitfeld asking Judge Streitfeld to ORDER me not to quote Scripture. What a freedom fighter Norm Kent is!
Mr. Kent has his public view of what The Bar is doing to me and why, and I have mine. The litigation over that is not over. The fat lady hasn't sung yet, Norm.
What Mr. Kent apparently does not want you all to know is that my "designated reviewer" in all this Bar activity that Mr. Kent began on behalf of Howard Stern and WQAM has been Ben Kuehne, ACLU operative and recipient of awards from People for the American Way.
Excuse me, but nobody, lawyer or layman, in his right mind, would think that someone with Kuehne's social agenda could be sitting on my grievance committee, with that ideological bias and his track record against the very public policy issues in which I have engaged on the other side.
Mr. Kuehne has a gay rights agenda, and he is entitled to it. So is Mr. Kent, but Mr. Kent's sense of fairplay is to accuse me within the last month of likely being a closeted homosexual. Norm Kent is the guy who threatened to depose my 12-year-old son. Norm Kent is the alleged ACLU maven who has now moved to seize my computer to find out all sorts of things. I guess Norm Kent things he is the government. He surely is acting like he thinks he is.
You opened the door with your attack here, Norm, so deal with it.
And now we know that Bar Governor Ben Kuehne has received a target letter from DOJ for allegedly laundering Medellin cocaine cartel money. Should this guy be the designated reviewer on my grievance committee? Should he be presiding in grievance matters brought by the video game industry which has more money than the Medellin cartel? Hell, he shouldn't even be on the Bar Board of Governors with that ethics cloud hanging over his head.
But Norm Kent, my abiding good friend of so many years who sought to have The Bar declare me mentally ill because of successful efforts against the distribution of porn to children, with the happy result that I am now the only officially Bar-certified sane lawyer in Florida, still wants to see The Bar whack me for the very same type of activism now. My, my, what a freedom fighter Norm Kent is.
One final question for Norm: Norm, why don't you share with us your two identical answers to a Request for Admissions in your Kent v. Thompson case? You know which ones I mean. Since you are all for "full disclosure," then disclose that Norml.
Jack Thompson
I find it hardly believable that Moldof could buy testimony that cheap. Likely he sent the guy $100 because the guy needed it and asked for it.
How many times have lawyers flown witnesses in to testify in a case, put them up in a 4 star hotel, and treated them to 5 star meals and room service?
Too many times.
Good to have you back Glassman
The $100 was allegedly a down payment on $20,000. I use this same payment plan for my clients.
I use the same payment plan but I take $50 down on a 20 grand fee. After the wheel dies, I'll take 25 bucks.
Thank you Jack Thompson for being yourself.
All I sought was to let the members of the JAAB Blog see who the divine light engaging our presence was.
You have performed that service for me.
Despite having had a number of baseless bar complaints in my 27 years of practice, all except one was dismissed for lack of probable cause. The sole inquiry that actually resulted in discipline was based on my responsibility as the supervising attorney for a former associate lawyer employee who negligently allowed for the dismissal of a homicide appeal, which, of course, was reinstated.For that major transgression, I received a public reprimand! For the record, it was my first, after about 20 years of practice, non-violent,Bar complaint that actually got passed comittee. The associate attorney remains unpunished.Need I say more??
Hey, Keep it up, Norm. The hole you're digging is getting deeper, and you're standing in it.
so what u are saying is that most lawyers bribe one way or the other.
encouraging
To Gary Ostrow:
Thanks for corroborating my point, which is obvious to all but one person here. Miles McGrane's Bar poll of our membership made the point as well: huge numbers of us believe that Bar discipline is meted out based upon who you know, not based upon what you do. Anyone who thinks otherwise is either deluded or disingenuous.
I have already noted here a scholarly work by a UConn Law Professor, Ms. Levin, who in 83 pages makes the point that Bar discipline in this country, historically, is "scandalous."
Ben Kuehne is alleged by the federal government to have taken cocaine cartel money, and yet he's sitting as a designated reviewer on grievance committees right now.
Norml Kent, please go sell your nonsense about how fabulous The Bar is to some other folks. We're not buying and neither are the American people.
Jack
Are you saying that Justice may be influenced by who you know, or (gasp) how much money one has. Hogwash
Yeah. Norm says he doesn't "get" that, that such a thing could not possibly happen. Somebody tell Norm the Easter Bunny doesn't exist, either.